Life

A Canadian Sweep in Hawaii

Brent McMahon earns a wire-to-wire win, while Angela Naeth runs to a second IRONMAN 70.3 title of the year.

by Shawn Skene

McMahon from start to finish

Brent McMahon (CAN) led the men’s field out of the water with his 24:39 swim. A trio of Aussies - Luke Bell, Lachlan Kerin and five time world champion, Craig Alexander - followed the leader up the beach between six to 33 seconds later.

Once the race hit the lava Fields on the “Queen K”, McMahon continued to dominate the field in the hot conditions on the Big Island. The fastest bike on the day (2:12:38) secured McMahon a comfortable 4:50 and 4:52 advantage over Karl Bordine (USA) and Alexander at the conclusion of the 56-mile bike.

Once on the run, McMahon showed no mercy on the field with the day’s best run (1:19:00) over the rolling run course. Finishing in a blistering 3:59:35, McMahon won the race by eight minutes over Alexander, who was later disqualified (he inadvertently wore a tri suit with sleeves during the swim - according to the swimwear rules, "swimwear must not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend past the knees") and forced to surrender his second place position to Benjamin Williams (USA), who stopped the clock at 4:18:36. Bordine clocked a 4:22:08 and was moved up to the third and final podium position.

Naeth's patience pays off

Christine Hammond (USA) emerged from the water first with her 27:40 swim time with Magali Tisseyre (CAN) and Karen Thibodeau (CAN) nipping at her heels three seconds back. Jessica Smith (USA), Bree Wee (USA), Mel McQuaid (CAN) and Angela Naeth (CAN) were in the fourth through seventh positions, just under a minute off the leader's pace as the women ran into T1.

During the opening half of the bike, Naeth pushed the pace and managed to build up a lead of one minute on McQuaid and Tisseyre as the race reached 30 miles. McQuaid bridged the gap to Naeth and led the field into the transition with Naeth five seconds back, while Tisseyre (third) and Wee (fourth) were looking at deficits of 3:20 and 5:18.

Once the women hit the run course, Naeth made her way past McQuaid in the first two miles and could only build a tentative one-minute cushion on McQuaid at the halfway point of the run. At the same point Tissyeyre was fading and found herself running shoulder to shoulder with a strong looking Wee.

Naeth cruised into the finish line chute to capture the 2014 IRONMAN 70.3 Hawaii title, stopping the clock at 4:30:53. Wee disposed of Tisseyre and ran her way past McQuaid to snag the runner-up spot 2:28 later, while McQuaid rounded out the podium with her 4:34:33 clocking.